Watchman s time-recorder



(No Model.)

A. M. JOHNSON.

WATGHMANS TIME RECORDER.

No. 287.291. Patented Oct. 23, 1883.

- UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

ALBERT M. JOHNSON, OF NENV HAVEN, CONNECTICUT.

WATCHMANS TIME-RECORDER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 287,291, dated October23, 1883.

Application filed June 11, 1883. (N0 model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ALBERT M. JOHNSON, of New Haven, in the county ofNew Haven and State of Connecticut, have invented a new Improvement inVatchmens Clocks; and I do hereby declare the following, when taken inconnection with accompanying drawings and the letters of referencemarked thereon, to be a full, clear, and exact description of the same,and which said drawings constitute part of this specification, andrepresent, iii- Figure 1, a front view; Fig. 2, a side view; Fig. 3, adetached view, showing the connection between the time movement and theslide which carries the marker; Fig. 4, a front view;

and Fig. 5, ascctional view, showing the train which operates theregistcring-pointers.

This invention relates to an improvement in that class of clocks whichare located at a central point in a territoryto be watched, and withwhich several stations at different points in said territorycommunicate, and so that the watchman at one station may make acommunieation to the central point, which will antomatically record hispresence at said station at such predetermined time, commonly calledwatehmens clocks, from the fact that the central station is inconnection with a time'movement, whereby the precise time at which thewatchman was at such station will be indicated. The clock now moregenerally used for this purpose is one in which a revolving disk isarranged in connection with the time-movement, so as to make onerevolution every twelve hours, and upon this disk a marker is brought tobear from the several stations at predetermined times, and so that thewatchmans presence at such stations will be indicated on the disk, orhis absence from the station noted by the absence of a corre spondingmark upon the disk. These disks are required to be renewed daily, and sothat to compare several days with each other it is necessary to examineseveral independent disks.

The principal object of my invention is to construct an apparatus bywhich a single disk may be employed for a number of days-say one week;and the invention consists in the combination of mechanism, ashereinafter de scribed, and more particularly recited in the claims.

A represents themain shaft. ()u this shaft is the drum B, upon which thecord or weight which drives the movement is wound, or it may be aspring-barrel attached thereto. The shaft is provided with the usualpawl and ratchet between it and the main wheel 0, whereby thecloclmnovement may be wound. From this main wheel a suitable train ofgearing communicates to the pointers, here represented as through avertical shaft, ID, communicating with the train by bevel-pinions E, thetime-pointers being above at any suitable distance, and the usualtime-wheels taking their rotation from the pinion on' the vertical shaft1). (Not shown.) The main shaft is arranged to make one revolution eachtwelve hours. Onto the main shaft a circular plate, F, is fixed, andupon this the indicator-disk H is placed. This disk is preferably ofpaper, and the plate F of wood or other semisoft material. The disk issecured to the plate F by a collar, I, over the ccntershaft, and a nutor pin to bear upon the collar, so that the disk will revolve with theplate F one revolution in twelve houis, and may be easily adjustedcircumferentially around the center shaft by loosening the fasteningwhich secures it to the plate. The disk H is divided radi ally intotwelve parts, corresponding to the twelvehours, and circumferentiallydivided, say, into seven parts, representing the seven days of the week.At some convenient point, preferably in a central line below the mainshaft, the indicator is arranged. The indicator consists of a lever, K,carrying a sharp point, a. This lever is hung upon a pivot, b, and sothat the point will stand in front of the disk,as shown, and is providedwith alight spring, L, SllffiClQllt to support the lever in a positionholding the point away from the surface of the disk H.

M is a magnet arranged in an electrical circuit. The lever K is providedwith a corresponding armature, N, and so that when the circuit is closedthe armature attracted to the magnet will bring the point a onto theface of the disk H and make an indentation or perfo- 1' tion thereon,and when the circuit is broken 5 cuit that closing will be indicatedupon the disk H, and the time at which such closing was made will bealso indicated, for the reason that the disk H is set corresponding tothe hours of time; hence if the circuit be closed in the position seenin Fig. 1, the disk will not only indicate that the circuit was soclosed, but will also indicate that the circuit was closed at six oclock. rotation as the time passes, and at the next I 5 point where thewatchman closes the circuit another indentation will be madesay at somepoint between six and seven-which will indicate the time when thecircuit was closed at thatpoint, and so on, passing around the disk thetwelve hours will indicate the number of times the circuit has beenclosed by the watchman.' The several indications thus produced upon the,disk will all be in the same circumferential line during'the firsttwelve hours 2 5 say beginning at six at, night until six in themorning. Now, were there no provision for a change of relative positionof the pointer to the disk, it would be necessary to remove the disk andintroduce a new or fresh one. To

avoid this I arrange the lever K and its op rack, S, into which apinion, T, on ashaft, U,

works. On this shaft U is a toothed wheel,

' V, the teeth of which stand in the path of a stud, d, on a wheel, 0,which is in connection with the time-train, and which wheel may 40 makeone revolution each twelve hours, and in such revolution the stud (1will engage one of the teeth on the toothed wheel V, and turn that.wheel and shaft one point, which turning will be communicated to therack S 5 and raise that with the lever it carries one point. Thismovement will be caught by the pawl f engaging the toothed wheel V, asseen in Fig. 3. This movement will bring thepoint a to a position abovethe circumferential line in which it stood in the last revolution of thedisk, and so that the point a, brought into contact with the disk, willmake an impression within the last circle and continue on that innercircle during the next twelve hours, and

5 5 at the expiration of this second twelve hours the stud d on thewheel 0 will again turn the ratchet V one point, and raise the point ato a position nearer the center and into a circumferential line with thesecond line, and so con tinue. The first line of impressions, say, is beginning six oelock Sunday night, and on the line marked S. Aftertwenty-fourhoursthe second line above (marked M) will be reached,beginning Mondaynight at six o clock. The intermediate twelve hoursthatis, beginning six oclock Monday morning, if the record is to be madewillbe on alineintermediatebe- The disk continues its.

tween the two lines S M, and so continue through the week, the point arising step by step to make the record for successive days upondifferent circumferential lines corresponding to the respective days,and this change is automatically made, avoids the frequent change ofdisk, and-preserves on one disk the 'record for a whole week or longertime, if desirable, according to the extent of radial feed imparted tothe point a or size of the disk.

I have represented the impulse to produce the action of the point a asthrough an electrical circuit; but this may be done by other known meansfor communicating an impulse or movement of the pointer for likepurposes. By arranging the disk 011 the main shaft of thev"time-movement, the disk itself may serve to indicate the time withoutnecessarily employ-- ing the vertical shaft D and the communicationtherefrom to the pointers above. The position of the disk with relationto the lever K, or a pointer, h, thereon, as seen in Fig. 1, willindicate the time 011 the disk. 7

I have represented and described my clock as arranged for an opencircuit 5 but it will be readily understood that it may be on a closedcircuit, if desirable, by simply making the changes usual for convertinga closed to an open circuit.

The arrangement of the disk directly upon the main or, twelve-hour shaftof the timemovement may be employed in connection with other recordingmechanism. I therefore do not wish to be understood as limiting thisarrangement of the disk to my particular recording devices.

In case the record of the watchman is to be made only during, say, fromsix at night to six in the morning, the movement of the slide ICCcarrying the point a need be made only once intwenty-four hours. In thatcase the gear which carries the stud (I may revolve only once intwenty-four hours, and such is the representation in Fig. 2; but if therecord is requi red to be made during each twelve hours, I

then that wheel would be required to make one revolution in each twelvehours, or a corresponding stud, d, on the opposite side of the wheel.Instead of working the slide upward, it may work downward by reversingthe rack.

As a means for communicating the presence of the watchman at a certainpoint, as well as to record the fact that he has been to that preeisepoint at such predetermined time, I employ a circuit-breaker, with anindicator in connection with it, as seen in Figs. 4 and 5. This consistsof a driving-shaft, i, to which is applied a main driving-spring, Z, towhich shaft a key is applied by the watchman, who

closed being sufficient to into a pinion 011 the shaft a, which carriesa wheel, 10, and on this wheel is aprojection, 5, said wheel andprojection forming a cam. In. the path of this cam 5 stands a metalpoint or finger, 6, from which a line, 7, runs to one pole of themagnet. From the other pole a line, 8, returns into connection with oneof the plates, the metal point (3 being insulated from that plate. Now,after the finger on has been turned, as before described, to the stop0*, the mainspring will act to return that finger, and at the same timewill cause the wheel w to revolve and bring the cam 5 on the wheel intocontact with the metal point (3, as seen in broken lines, and therebyclose the circuit, the cam 5 passing on and immediately breaking thecircuit, the time which the circuit is produce the record on the disk.

From the shaft of the earn a train of gearingsay of fourwheels-communicates power to four corresponding shafts, each of whichcarries a pointer on a dial-plate, 9, the first indicating units, thesecond hundreds, the third thousands, and the fourth ten thousands, asin the usual registering devices. The first rotation of the cam willcarry the unit-pointer one point, and each of the others a correspondingportion of one point; hence the number of times that the circuit isbroken will be shown by the pointers on, their respective dials. Aperson in charge having the record of these dials may any time uponinspection ascertain how many times the circuit has been closed orbroken, as the case may be.

The several stations at which at predetermined times the watchman is tobe present are provided wit-h such anindicator. Each indicator willrecord the number of times which the watchman was present at that point,and the clock itself will record the total number of times the circuithas been closed or broken, as the case may be, and the time at whichsuch closing or breaking was performed. \Vhile this circuit-breaker andits registering apparatus are particularly adapted to my improved clock,it will be apparent that they may be used in connection with otherwatchmens clocks and make a corresponding record. I therefore do notwish to limit this part of my invention to my particular construction ofclock; nor do I wish to be understood as broadly claiming the mechanismdescribed by which the circuit is closed and broken, as this I am awareis not new, the gist of this part of my invention being in combiningwith such a circuit-closer a registering mechanism which will indicatethe number of times the circuit has been closed.

To indicate upon the recording-disk the reg istration from a particularstation, the watch man may be required to make, say, one opera tion ofthe circuitcloser at one station, two at the next, three at the next,and so on, which would cause the point or marker on the disk to makeone, two, three, and so on marks or depressions,- or the cam may haveone projection for one station, two for the next, and so on, the camclosing and breaking the circuit one, two, or three times accordingly.

1. The combination of the disk H, arranged upon the twelve-hour shaft ofthe time-movement, the vertical slide P, carrying the markerlever K, thetoothed wheel V in connection with said slide, and the wheel 6 inconnection with the time-movement, and carrying a stud, (7, whereby atpredetermined times a radial m ovement is imparted to said slide andmarker, substantially as and for the purpose described.

2. In combination with a watchmans clock, substantially such asdescribed, a circuit-closer consisting of the main drivingshaft z thespring applied thereto and fitted to engage with the watehmans key, thefinger on, steps a 'r, cam 53 in gear-connection with the main shaft,the metal-pointed finger (3, standing in the path of said cam 5, and inconnection with one line from the clock, the other line in eonnectioirwith the frame of the circuit-closer, and a series of shafts carryingpointers, the said shafts in gear-connection with the main shaft, andwhereby each movement of the finger on produced by the watchman will beindicated by the said pointers, substantially as described.

ALBERT M. JOHNSON. Vitnesses:

JOHN E. EARL'E, LILLIAX D. KELSEY.

